This invention relates generally to high pressure joints of a size and configuration which because of the nature of the piping or vessel layout cannot be screwed together as would be done with a standard coupling, and more particularly concerns improvements in joining sections of piping or pressure vessels in high pressure and temperature service which can by use of this invention be coupled and uncoupled, as need requires, without rotating either member of the assembly.
Past efforts to effect such joints have been directed toward the use of standard or special bolted flanges, or by flanged members drawn together by bolted members, or by threaded members which must be rotated to be drawn up, or by a combination of these, as in a common pipe union.
In many instances such past efforts have proved unsatisfactory, due to the tendency of such equipment, or some portion thereof, to yield or creep under pressure or temperature conditions, largely because the stresses imposed on the retaining bolting or the keeper clamps, these members being dimensionally relatively long, which results in the normal stretch of the restraining member becoming cumulatively excessive. As a result, leakage can and does occur.